Saturday, May 31, 2008

Potato and Caper Terrine

Sapphire is a purple skinned potato with a mottled interior and I have already used this previously in the dish of Pizzocheri Valtellina. It is not as mealy as the Purple Congo so it is well suited for use in potato salads.

The recipe this week comes from Shannon Bennett's latest book My French Vue and it is one of his light lunch offerings - a potato and caper terrine. While the original recipe calls for Kipflers I've changed that to be an even split between the Sapphire and Kipfler potatoes - the curly endive salad has been replaced with a bit of crunch in the form of very finely shredded cabbage. The final touch is a just cooked egg.

Boil or steam the potatoes until tender. Cool slightly before peeling and then cut into medium sized pieces.

Place the potato pieces into a bowl along with the shallots, capers and lardons - toss the mixture to combine.

In a small bowl, add the mayonnaise and anchovies - stir this well to amalgamate before adding it to the potato mixture. Stir again, crushing the potatoes slightly as you do - sprinkle over with half the shredded cabbage and just gently fold it through.

Divide the mixture into two and using an egg ring, place it in the centre of your serving plates. Press the potato into the egg ring to form a compact terrine.

Remove the egg ring and top with the remaining shredded cabbage and finally, a just cooked egg.

In the recipe, Shannon tops his terrine with just the egg yolk - the egg yolk in simmered in 60°C/140°F oil for about 4 minutes or until the yolk has just warmed through.

I've taken a different approach and cooked the egg, using the egg ring again to form the shape, over a very low heat until the white has just set on the base. I've then taken it off the heat, sprinkled over a little sea salt flakes and then covered the ring with a lid and let the pan heat continue to set the white without hardening the yolk.

With the white fully set, slide it onto a wide spatula and position it onto the formed terrine - use the egg ring to keep it on the terrine while you slip the spatula away - once in place, remove the egg ring.

Wow what a pretty potato. I've only ever tried the purple congo, and wasn't terribly impressed. It didn't even hold it's colour well after cooking (just went quite grey, unlike this potato you've featured).